For immediate release
For more information, contact
Bonnie Prigge
or
Caitlin Jones
ST. JAMES—Ava Kloeppel, Miranda Sanders, Ashley Harris and the Fraternal Order of Eagles – 4340 Aerie of Vienna were honored with outstanding community service awards during the Meramec Regional Planning Commission’s (MRPC) Annual Dinner and Awards Banquet, held Oct. 24 at Osage View in Linn. Each year, MRPC honors residents, local agency representatives and organizations in the Meramec Region who contribute to their communities by volunteering their time, talents and support. This year’s event was hosted by Osage County, the City of Linn and State Technical College of Missouri.
Kloeppel of Vienna, nominated by the Maries County Presiding Commissioner Vic Stratman, is the daughter of Meredith Cotton. She is a senior at Vienna High School where she is on the A Honor Roll and taking several dual credit college courses. Kloeppel is very involved in many high school sports, as well as the chapter president of the FFA and Area XIV 2nd Vice President. She also serves as a mentor for the Big Dog Little Dog program. Outside of school, Kloeppel is very active in her church youth group and is always willing to help her community in any way possible, willingly accepting leadership opportunities. Kloeppel was unable to attend and Presiding Commissioner Vic Stratman accepted the award on her behalf.
Sanders of Belle, daughter of Mike and Kenda Sanders, was nominated by MRPC Board Member Steve Vogt. For the past four years, she has participated in many community and school affiliated clubs. In 2023, she was selected as the Belle Fair Princess. Associated with that role, Sanders volunteered at the Belle Community Betterment Association Father/Daughter dance, the Trunk or Treat event at the school, worked the gates at the YaYa’s Annual Battle of the Bulls fundraiser and worked shifts at the Belle Fair lunch stand. During high school, Sanders was active in 4-H, Student Council, FBLA, Pep Club, National Honor Society, FFA and was the senior class treasurer. She is currently attending East Central College majoring in radiology.
Harris, of Belle, was also nominated by MRPC Board Member Steve Vogt. She is a member of Maries County R-2 school board, presently serving as secretary. Harris also serves on the Meramec Region Community Foundation and the Maries R2 Schools Community Foundation committee. She is the co-founder of the annual Marquart-Harris Scholarship and co-founder of the annual Cherri Marquart Memorial Scholarships. As a member of the Belle Community Betterment Association, Harris is chairman of the Belle Christmas Event Parade and the Belle Business Christmas Competition. She volunteers at many of the BCBA events and fundraisers including the Father/Daughter Dance, swap meet/extravaganza, trivia night and Belle Fair beer garden. As an active member of the YaYas organization, she volunteers as the Maries County Predator Hunt chair, Belle Fair Food Stand, Community Easter Egg Hunt, Battle of the Bull’s fundraiser and works for the YaYas Restaurant Takeover fundraiser. For the First Baptist Church, Harris is the nursery class teacher and is part of the Belle Christmas nativity booth. As a leader with the Hawkeye 4-H Club, she is involved with the Belle beautification project, Adopt-A-Highway, Belle Fair Livestock Barn Clean Up and represents the club at the Belle Fair food stand. Through her employer, Legends Bank of Belle, Harris volunteers at the Belle Fair entry gate, works on the Belle Fair parade float, serves lunch at the 55+ luncheon, assists at the Belle Christmas parade booth, baseball tailgate event, Heartland Library back-to-school event and Christmas Parade booth. She also serves on the Belle FFA officer interview committee.
The Fraternal Order of Eagles – 4340 Aerie of Vienna was nominated by Maries County Presiding Commissioner Vic Stratman. The organization has been a great venue for local benefits and non-profit fundraisers for decades. Many local groups have used this venue to hold fundraising auctions, raising thousands of dollars for various worthy causes. Vienna Eagles sponsor scholarships annually and also hire numerous high school kids giving them their first job experiences. In 2019, the Vienna Eagles Club also obtained $6,500 in grants from the Grand Aerie for two organizations. the Belle Elementary School received a grant to replace its playground, which was unusable at the time, and the Vienna Senior Center received a grant to fill its pantry that provides hot meals both in the center and for home delivery. The Eagles operate a full menu restaurant and bar on Friday and Saturday evenings.
“It was so good to come together in-person and honor our volunteers,” said MRPC Executive Director Bonnie Prigge. “We are only able to honor a few volunteers each year, yet we extend our gratitude to the hundreds of volunteers in our region who truly make our region such an amazing place to live, work and visit. We are successful because of our volunteers. We hope that by recognizing a few volunteers, we can inspire others to volunteer their time and invest in their communities.”
The night included a reception that began at 5:30 sponsored by the City of Linn, Legends Bank – Linn, Darryl and Corliss Griffin and Archer-Elgin Engineering, Surveying and Architecture. A silent auction, held during the reception, raised $1,284 to offset the costs of the dinner. Approximately 150 people attended this year’s event. The dinner was catered by Annie’s Station in Loose Creek.
Other individuals and community organizations recognized for contributions to their communities are:
This year’s other youth award recipients were:
The Eugene E. Northern award, the highest honor given by MRPC for volunteers and community service, was presented to Stan Podorski of Salem for 2024.
Podorski, nominated by Dent County Presiding Commissioner Gary Larson, has owned KSMO Radio in Salem since 1984. He has volunteered for the Police Personnel Board, Handicapped Services of Dent County Board, Salem Area Chamber of Commerce and Healthy Dent County Prevention Coalition. Podorski has also served as the president of the Salem Area Business Association and City of Salem Park and Recreation board and is currently the president of the Dent County Salvation Army Unit.
While chair of the park board, Podorski worked to get a Transportation Alternatives Program grant for the city to create a new trail from the city park to the high school, had a splash pad installed at the city park and worked to get an all-inclusive playground at the city park called Billy’s Playground. He also had the municipal swimming pool and pool house renovated, improved walking areas around the field at the park and helped to secure property for the creation of soccer fields inside city limits.
Podorski created a free four-page news flyer called ‘Your World Today’ that included local news, sports, obituaries and other community events daily Monday through Friday. Today, this is still delivered in over 40 locations in Salem and Bunker.
Volunteering with the Dent County Fall Festival Board and Salem FFA Chapter, Podorski oversaw the systems and emceeing numerous Miss Dent County contests at the fall festival. He improved the sound system at the old festival grounds before designing and installing an all new outside speaker system at the Dent County Commons in the Livestock Barn, the rodeo arena, the grandstand and the youth building. Working with the school, Podorski was the driving force in raising over $9,000 to renovate the press boxes for football and baseball at no cost to the school. When the high school gym ran out of press box space, Podorski and KSMO paid for materials so maintenance staff could build two additional crow’s nests in the gym.
In his 40 years in Salem, it has been Podorski’s desire to make Salem a better place.
The Lender of the Year award was also presented during MRPC’s Annual Dinner. Working in partnership with the Meramec Regional Development Corporation (MRDC), MRPC recognizes lending institutions who partner with MRPC/MRDC on local business projects. For 2024, the Lender of the Year award was presented to Maries County Bank. Maries County Bank partnered with MRDC to finance a new business. MRDC and Maries County Bank have had a longstanding partnership working to help businesses.
Staff members were recognized at the 2024 awards banquet for years of service included:
Each year, MRPC employees are asked to select one staff member who performs above the call of duty, exhibits exemplary work performance, voluntarily promotes the organization and exhibits a positive work ethic and attitude. MRPC’s 2024 employee of the year was Eva Voss, Senior Community Development Specialist.
Formed in 1969, MRPC is a voluntary council of governments serving Crawford, Dent, Gasconade, Maries, Osage, Phelps, Pulaski and Washington counties and their respective cities. Mary Heywood, representing the unemployed, serves as chair of the board. A professional staff of 28 offers technical assistance and services, such as grant preparation and administration, housing assistance, transportation planning, environmental planning, ordinance codification, business loans and other services to member communities.
To keep up with the latest MRPC news and events, visit the MRPC website at www.meramecregion.org or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/meramecregion/.
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